Issey Miyake Aftershave & Men's Fragrance

Issey Miyake is Japanese designer who is best known for his imaginative women's fashion and his very popular fragrances. He rose to prominence in the 90's and aside from great scents like Nuit d’Issey and Pleats Please he has also designed costumes for ballets and was the man behind Apple mastermind Steve Job's signature turtle-neck jumper that he wore almost every day.

The designer was born in Hiroshima in 1938. He was still living there with his family when the city was hit by a nuclear bomb in 1945, ending the world war. He survived but his mother passed due to the fallout of the attack. Left to his own devices, Miyake drifted into art and design and attended university in Tokyo where he graduated with a degree in graphic design in 1964. He travelled and worked for design houses in Europe before coming back to Japan to start his own brand in the early 70's. Since the start he has been obsessed with fabric and cloth, especially the traditional methods of pleating. His designs mix the traditional with the modern. Among other things he made sold one-size-fits-all shirts packaged in small plastic tubes, laser-printed dresses and created A-POC, a machine process that creates clothes from digital instructions without the need for sewing.

The first Issey Miyake fragrance for men was launched in 1994. L'Eau d'Issey Pour Homme is a refreshing and masculine scent uses a heavy dose of yuzu, a kind of Japanese grapefruit which is known for its tart and zesty scent. This citrusy freshness is balanced on a base of woods and spices. The scent was a huge success and remains one of the brands top sellers. It has been released in several different versions over the years including L'Eau Bleu (2006), L'Eau d'Issey Homme Intense (2007), Oceanic Expedition (2015) and several summer variations. Miyake released a second men's fragrance collection in 2014; Nuit d’Issey. This dark and mysterious evening scent for men is based on several grains of dark wood, leather, black pepper and incense.